


A Collection of Angst

by orphan_account



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: 1x07 fic collection, Finally finished, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Warnings In Chapter Notes, comments are appreciated thank u, episode tag 1x07, im still not sure what i should all tag, that episode was a gold mine for angst and h/c man
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-06
Updated: 2016-11-16
Packaged: 2018-08-29 08:38:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8482756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Alternate title: episode 1x07 was pretty much just a huge opportunity for MacGyver angst and whump. Who am I to pass this up?*Now with chapter 5*





	1. Patricia and Riley aka Mom/daughter, basically

**Author's Note:**

> Ah,this episode was amazing. So amazing, in fact, that I spent two hours writing and was very happy that today was the day daylight savings time kicked in, because hey! Another hour to write! 
> 
> Anyways, please enjoy. Also, chapter 2 has been edited, and chapters 3 and 4 have been posted. 
> 
> 1: Patricia and Riley, angst
> 
> 2: Jack's thoughts when he rescued MacGyver
> 
> 3: Missing scene between Mac's rescue and the next time we see him
> 
> 4: AU scene, Jack doesn't arrive until a few hours after when he does in the show

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patricia watches Riley relive some of her worst memories. She worries.
> 
> Warnings: None, other than vague references to violence, if it can even be called that, and references to time spent in jail.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> trying a slightly different style of writing, and really wanted to do a drabble. Here's something that's exactly 100 words long.

Patricia watched as Riley paced the room, her fingers reaching up to worry at her hair as they waited for news. Had the retrieval team found MacGyver?

Riley continued pacing, and Patricia reflected on the girl. She had been in prison for two years, and knew firsthand how difficult it could be, yet she had turned out fine, given what Patricia had seen of the girl so far.

It might be true that Patricia felt a sense of motherly responsibility for the girl, but she had never been good at showing affection.

So Riley paced, and Patricia offered silent support.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first chapter of a four-chapter fic focusing on the events of 1x07, because that episode was basically a gold mine for angst.
> 
> P.S. I know I said I'd be gone for November b/c of nanowrimo, but I had my wordcount for the day finished, so I decided to write this stuff. Enjoy


	2. Patricia and Riley aka Mom/daughter, basically

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> aka that fic where I basically just let the Jack angst run wild.
> 
> Edited on 11/6/16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, Jack angst. I love it. Also, it's a personal headcanon of mine that while Jack realizes that he can't protect MacGyver from everything, he still wants to. Because that's what big brothers do for their younger siblings, and we all know that the two of them are as close as brothers.

Jack watched as the man he had hit with his gun dropped to the floor, a puppet whose strings had been cut. He barely spared a thought for the man once he knew that he was unconscious, though, turning his attention immediately to the young man sitting slumped in the chair before him. MacGyver was staring at the older man in a daze, his gaze barely registering anything other than the fact that Jack wasn't a threat. The man winced internally as he saw the bruise blooming on Angus' cheekbone, and with the sight of it came the reminder that Jack hadn't been able to prevent it. Hadn't been able to protect his friend.

Jack made a flippant comment in an attempt to cover up the feelings of guilt that were gnawing at him and quickly cut his friend free. The blond immediately slumped down even further in the chair, a woozy smile gracing his face. Jack frowned slightly, asking what they had given the younger man. When MacGyver didn't reply, Jack caught sight of a large silver canister labeled 'Nitrogen' and an abandoned gas mask resting on the floor. A surge of anger welled up inside of him as he realized what must have happened.

Jack was CIA.

Jack knew what Nitrogen did to people, and he hated that he knew what his friend must've been going through. 

Instead of lashing out, Jack simply helped his friend up and out to the car.

And if some of the gang members of the Merida cartel were loaded up a little roughly, or El Noche himself was roughed up a bit on his car ride back to a secure prison cell, well, surely it was an accident. 


	3. Angst and a Missing Scene

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Missing scene between when MacGyver is rescued by Jack and when he visits El Noche in prison.
> 
> Warnings for: Aftermath of torture, references to violence, a panic attack that is described semi-graphically. Please read with care.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because there would've been some repercussions after what our favorite blond inventor just went through. Also, I like having hurt!Mac and comforting!worried!Jack.

Jack sat with his friend outside the El Noche compound as they waited for it to be cleared so they could head back to the Phoenix Foundation headquarters. MacGyver was leaning heavily against Jack, his breathing labored; every time he wheezed it made Jack feel like he had been punched in the gut. If only he had arrived earlier. If only he could've prevented it.

But he hadn't, so he sat there and listened to his friend wheeze, trying to offer silent support.

The wheezes suddenly turned into frantic coughing, and Jack turned quickly to face his friend, who was clutching at his neck. His eyes, which had begun to clear, were blown wide with panic. Jack grabbed the younger man's hands from where they were clawing at his throat, trying to prevent his friend from doing more harm to himself. "Hey, hey, calm, down. Breathe."

MacGyver, who had apparently begun to spiral into a panic attack, wasn't listening. Worse, it seemed as if he couldn't even process who Jack was, given the way he was trying to weakly break free from Jack's grip. Jack raised his voice, keeping his eyes on the young man before him. "Hey, I need some help over here! Bring oxygen!"

Two medics hurried over. Jack mentally cursed when he saw them. Were there not any that looked slightly less threatening? As it was, they resembled the typical prison guard that Mac had been around for the past six days. Sure enough, when the young man saw them, his struggles became even more frantic, his strangled gasps becoming quicker and sounding more painful by the second.

The medics quickly set up an oxygen apparatus. The older one talked to Jack as they screwed everything together. "Sir, we're going to need you to help hold him while we get the mask on him. Just keep his hands still."

Jack nodded his understanding. He watched as the medics stood, one with the mask, the other quickly and efficiently grasping MacGyver's head to hold him still enough to get the mask on. As the mask slid into place, MacGyver's thrashing reached its climax. Panicked tears were rolling down his cheeks as he tried to shake the mask off his head. His chest convulsed as he fought not to breathe, and both medics were forced to hold his shoulders in order to keep him from further injuring himself. The older medic spoke quickly to Jack, saying between grunts, "Get him to breathe, or he's going to seriously injure himself. Hurry!"

Jack cursed then, loud and heartfelt. He knew what he had to do, but that didn't mean he had to like it. Quickly, he thumped MacGyver hard between the shoulder blades, just hard enough to drive the air from his chest and force him to take a breath.

MacGyver sucked in air, a long, loud wheezing sound that tore Jack's heart in half. After his friend took a few more breaths of oxygen, though, he began to calm down, awareness slowly seeping back into his eyes. His struggles ceased, and the medics let his shoulders go as Jack released his hands.

A few more minutes and the kid was finally breathing normally. The medics glanced up at a call from a few hundred feet away, and then the senior medic glanced down at Jack. "We have to go help the others, but he needs to keep that mask on. Call a medic if there's another problem."

Jack nodded his understanding distractedly, mumbling a quick thanks, his eyes- and attention- still firmly fixed on his young friend. He looked very fragile right then, staring at the dusty ground and huddled in on himself with the mask still firmly fixed in place over his bruised face. Jack waited until the medics had walked away before he touched his friend's shoulder, hating the way that the blond flinched before he realized that it was just Jack.

Jack rubbed his shoulder as he murmured, "You okay, buddy?"

Mac shrugged one shoulder listlessly. A muffled sound that could've been 'no' made its way out from under the mask, and the blond reached up to remove it. Jack caught his hand before it could reach his face, however, and gently stopped it from completing its journey. He shook his head. "Can't let you do that, pal. You were having too much trouble breathing."

MacGyver glanced at the older man then, his eyes showing his frustration, and, much as Jack didn't want to see it, a slight hint of fear. Jack did his best to alleviate that fear, saying, "Hey, everything's all right now, okay?"

MacGyver let out another muffled sound, sounding completely miserable. This time, however, he didn't attempt to remove the mask from his face, so Jack counted that as a win and said, "I promise. We're just going to head back to the States, get some medical care for you, and then we can go get some real food to eat. We can celebrate your return to the straight and narrow after your brush with a life of crime."

MacGyver let out a faint chuckle at that, the sound warming Jack's heart. He ducked his head, catching the younger man's eyes and finding, to his satisfaction, that the fear had almost dissipated. The older man turned back to look out over the swarm of people in the courtyard and slung his arm over his young partner's shoulder in a silent promise that he would protect him. He smiled as he felt Angus lean into the embrace.


	4. AU Scene

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alternate scene: What if Jack hadn't been able to get to MacGyver as quickly?
> 
> Warnings: Torture, threats of torture, violence, threats of violence, basically just Mac whump.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written because it was very convenient that Jack showed up that fast. What would've happened if he had been just a little bit later?
> 
> Notes: In this AU, MacGyver tapped out the Phoenix Foundation's phone # that agents are supposed to contact when they've been compromised*. There was a slight hold-up in getting the information from the lower desks up to Thornton, which is why Jack is a few hours later than he was in the episode.
> 
> *I don't know if it's actually true that they have a phone number for that purpose or not, but for the sake of this AU, they do.

MacGyver watched as El Noche walked away with the words, "Call me back when he's feeling more talkative," floating in the air behind him. The Merida thugs congregated around the young man taped to the chair, who could only watch helplessly as the mask descended once again and the feeling of drowning overcame him. He couldn't help the panic that welled up each time it happened.

Somewhere in between the fifth and the sixth round with the mask, he passed out. 

MacGyver came to with a sharp gasp, the shock of ice cold water waking him up quickly. It seemed as if only a few minutes had passed since he had lost consciousness, given the position of the sun. MacGyver drifted into a memory of his grandfather teaching him how to tell time from the position of the sun and the shadows on the ground, but his attention was roughly reclaimed when his chin was cruelly grasped and turned towards the man who had been administering the nitrogen. He spoke in accented English, saying, "Are you ready to talk?"

MacGyver clawed desperately through the jumble of thoughts that currently made up his brain, struggling to find some way to draw out the time. It didn't work, however, as the men decided he was taking too long to answer, and began to bring the mask up to his face. MacGyver tried to repeat his earlier trick of holding his breath, but was rewarded in the same way for his efforts: with a hard punch to the gut that forced the air from his lungs and made him reflexively draw in air-or, in this case, nitrogen. Immediately, he began to feel as if he was drowning. 

The blond's hands seized, grasping at the arms of the chair. He struggled weakly against his captors' grips, their firm hands forming bruises on his arms that would surely be painful tomorrow.

If there was a tomorrow, which, MacGyver had begun to realize, there might not be. This could be how he went out. Drowned via nitrogen on a mission that had gone south because security to a prison had been updated. It certainly wasn't how he had imagined his death would go, but then again, life was full of surprises.

He hazily formed the thought that he wouldn't die, though, because Jack would come for him. Jack always came.

The mask came off, and the blond greedily sucked in as much oxygen as he could, barely able to make out his captors' faces, much less their voices, from the haze that surrounded him. 

Then the mask returned, and with it the certainty that he was going to die. If he was going to die, though, he wasn't about to do so giving up information that could endanger his friends.

* * *

 After another couple hours that consisted of countless rounds with the mask and MacGyver passing out and being awoken again at strange intervals, the thugs had a conversation in Spanish that MacGyver was unable to follow. The young man, slumped over in the chair, gazed at the floor as his chest heaved, and watched without a reaction as a dirty pair of tennis shoes made their way into his vision. His gaze was suddenly redirected towards the face of the man that owned the shoes, however, as someone jerked his head upwards with a rough yank of his hair. MacGyver's eyes listlessly drifted up to meet the eyes of the angry older man, but he was too exhausted to make even one snarky comment.

 _Tragic_.

The man snarled something in Spanish, harshly slapping MacGyver in an attempt to make him pay more attention to his situation. It worked, to an extent. While he was more alert than he had been, he still wasn't completely aware of everything going on.

He was alert enough to see the tub of water, filled with ice, and realize what was about to happen. 

MacGyver began to struggle weakly as his wrists were cut free from the arms of the chair, but a few punches and a harsh blow to the back of his head quickly stopped the blond's efforts.

He was dragged to the tub and forced to his knees before it.

His wrists were bound behind his back with more tape.

MacGyver didn't think it mattered much, though, as he didn't really have the strength to escape, even if he had the use of his hands. He was too exhausted to even try, and it had only been a few hours.

El Noche had certainly made good on his promise to make a minute feel like forever. 

MacGyver's head was forced beneath the icy liquid and held there until he began to struggle. When he had almost ceased his attempts to jerk out of the tub, he was lifted out by his shoulders. His head sagged to his chest, and he was given a few second's respite before he was forced back into the tub. This cycle was repeated a few times, and then his head was lifted and the mask returned to his face. 

MacGyver barely had the energy to realize that he was being drowned two different ways.

The horror of the situation faded after another half-hour, being replaced by a sensation of tiredness. 

A pounding rhythm made its way into MacGyver's head, pulsing in time with the pain that filled his whole body. A single sentence repeated itself over and over.  _He'll come. He'll come. He'll come._

He didn't know how long it went on before he was roughly dropped on the floor, a foot meeting his chest and driving the air cruelly from his lungs. They hit him for a few more minutes, then attempted to make him talk.

 _He'll come_ -MacGyver said nothing- _He'll come_ -There wasn't any  _air-He'll come-_ It wasn't going to stop- _He'llcomehe'llcomehe'llcomehe'llcome-_

And then there was shouting and MacGyver was dropped to the floor. A face appeared over him that he thought he might recognize, but the black that previously hadn't been permitted to overwhelm him was warm and tempting, and he let it embrace him with gladness.

* * *

When Jack led the charge into the Merida cartel's compound, he was prepared for a lot of things. He knew that the message had for some reason been delayed in the lower levels of the Phoenix Foundation. He knew that whoever had delayed it- even by accident- was probably going to be fired. 

He knew that MacGyver wasn't going to be in the best shape when they found him. 

He led the other team members in storming the compound. He was the first one to see MacGyver, and when he did, he didn't let the sight of his friend convulsing as a mask was pressed to his face sink into his mind until all threats in the room were subdued. 

Jack let the other team members take care of securing the prisoners once they had been taken down, one way or another, and quickly made his way to Mac, fumbling with the safety on his gun and then dropping it to the side so he could turn his friend over from where he had been carelessly dropped by the cartel members. Jack used his knife to cut through the tape binding his friend's wrists and turned him over carefully.

He was taken aback by what he saw. The younger man's face was a mass of bruises, and his eyes were clouded over and barely open. As Jack watched, they slid shut.

Jack had never yelled for a medic as loud as he did then.

* * *

Jack was sitting by his friend's hospital bed when he awoke. The younger man reached up to attempt to pull out his nasal cannula, but Jack reached out a gentle hand to stop him. "Hey, buddy. Leave that in, you need it."

MacGyver stopped trying to pull it out, instead letting his hand fall onto his chest with a slight wince as he peered up at Jack with slightly confused eyes. "Wha's goin' on?" He slurred.

Jack grinned slightly, although his eyes were still worried. "We got you out, buddy. Just in time, looked like, cause you passed out right after we got there."

MacGyver hummed at that, a tiny sound that made Jack smile slightly. MacGyver mumbled, "Didn' tell them 'nything."

Jack felt his gut clench. After all that, and his friend was still worried about the mission. He wasn't exactly surprised, though. "That's great, pal, I'm proud. You did good, but you need to rest now, okay?"

The younger man let out a small noise of agreement. Then, as his eyes slipped shut, he added,"Knew you'd come, so I knew I didn' hafta tell them 'nything to live. You always come f'r me."

The blond's eyes slipped shut, leaving Jack to look at his peacefully sleeping friend with a slightly somewhat stunned feeling at the amount of trust that was placed in him.

* * *

 When MacGyver woke the second time, he was slightly more coherent. He peered over at Jack, whose feet were resting on the side of the bed as he sat in a hospital chair, his head bowed in sleep. MacGyver did the natural thing. He leaned over and pushed his friend's feet off of the bed. 

Well, he tried to. When he attempted to sit up, his ribs protested loudly and painfully, and he couldn't help but emit a pained yelp. Jack sat up instantly, the sleep disappearing from his eyes as soon as he saw his friend sitting up in the bed. The older man leaned over and helped the younger man slowly lie back. 

Jack looked down at his friend's pained face. "You okay there, buddy?"

The blond nodded. "Yeah. Just sore and tired. "

Jack scoffed. "I bet. Anyone would feel tired after what you went through."

MacGyver fiddled with the edge of his blankets, seeming a little reluctant to meet his friend's eyes. Jack sighed. He knew Mac's tells when he was embarrassed about something. He laid his much larger hands over the kid's smaller, thinner ones, stilling them, and said, "Somethin' the matter?"

MacGyver finally met the brunet's eyes. "Thanks. For coming for me. I wasn't sure if the Foundation had gotten my message, but I knew you would find a way to get to me."

Jack cleared his throat, speaking around the lump that had suddenly appeared there. "Yeah, well, that's what I'm here for."

The kid's face lit up as he smiled. 

Then Riley appeared outside the door and looked down the hall, shouting for someone out of sight. She proceeded to enter the room with Patricia right on her heels. The two women surrounded the bed, looking at their injured friend, and Riley had already begun chattering about something. 

Jack stood back and watched it happen, a fond smile forming almost unconsciously as he saw his friend's eyes seek him out through the gap between the two women.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that's all I have for this episode. My apologies to TinkerBella7, because I told them that the last two chapters would be up early this morning, but then it hit midnight and I realized after I stayed up for another hour that I do, sadly, still need sleep.


	5. Claustrophobia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> MacGyver was in the trunk of the car for quite a while. 
> 
> It was a small, enclosed space, and that is something MacGyver hates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thought I was finished with this, but nope. 
> 
> Warnings for: claustrophobia, discussion of claustrophobia.

MacGyver frantically shone the flashlight around the interior of the car. He was trapped. 

The young man fought down the claustrophobia that naturally rose in him. He saw the wires to the taillights, and began to work at them. 

His fingers shook; his breathing was erratic. 

He began to use the wires to signal in morse code, desperately spelling out Jack's name and what number to call in the hopes that someone would see it. 

He muttered the correct number of taps quietly, trying to distract himself from the tight space he was trapped in. 

* * *

The car lurched to a stop, and MacGyver immediately shoved the wires back into their correct place. His hands trembled again as he heard the men approaching the trunk. 

MacGyver shoved the flashlight back into the bag he had found it in. 

The trunk was opened to reveal two burly Hispanic men that looked about as threatening as lions. They reached down and reached towards MacGyver, pulling him out of the car. One of them pointed a thumb over his shoulder. "Five minutes. You run, we will catch you and kill you." 

MacGyver stared blankly for a moment, then understood that they were allowing him to relieve himself. 

Five minutes later he was back at the car. He would've attempted to escape, but he knew that he was in no shape to try, and even if he was, he still needed to find El Noche's compound. 

Still, as he stared at the trunk of the car and felt an overwhelming sense of claustrophobia overcome him, he wanted to run as fast and as far away from it as he could. 

The two men approached MacGyver, looming threateningly over the smaller man. MacGyver struggled a bit against their efforts to shove him in the trunk once again, but was quickly stilled by a few harsh punches to the gut.

The blond was tossed carelessly into the trunk and the lid was slammed. MacGyver tried to open it by banging his hands against the trunk top, but to no avail. It was locked tight. 

The car lurched into movement again, harshly throwing MacGyver against the side of the car, which added to his already numerous bruises. 

The young man fought to control his breathing as he scrambled for the flashlight. Once he had it turned on once again, he was able to control his panic somewhat. 

MacGyver found the wires again and resumed his earlier task of desperately tapping out Jack's name and phone number. 

He shuddered every time the car jolted and he was thrown against the sides of the trunk. 

The only thing that kept him from going into full-blown panic was the thought that, somehow, Jack would find him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MacGyver has a bit of claustrophobia when I write him, but I feel like that would be understandable given his current situation. He's trapped in a trunk and is hoping that someone will see some flashing lights and put together a message.


End file.
